Ingolstadt, February 10, 2013  four Audi customer teams recorded a top-ten result with the Audi R8 LMS ultra in the 12-hour race at Bathurst (Australia). Endurance World Champion André Lotterer contests a historical rally in Belgium this coming weekend. Edoardo Mortara is impressed by first DTM visit to Moscow.

12h Bathurst: Four Audis in the top ten

Seven Audi customer teams contested the 12-hour race at Bathurst (Australia), from of them achieved a top-ten result. The Phoenix Racing squad, Johan Kristoffersson (Sweden), Harold Primat (Switzerland) and Andreas Simonsen (Sweden), brought the best-placed Audi R8 LMS ultra home in fourth place, two laps behind the winning car. In a race dominated by innumerable incidents, caution periods and heavy rainfall in the closing stages, the Australian customer teams of Mark Eddy, Peter Conroy and Dean Koutsoumidis finished in fifth, eighth and tenth positions. Only 34 of the 53 cars that started saw the checkered flag.

Endurance World Champion in original quattro

André Lotterer, defending Endurance World Champion with the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, travels back in time to the origins of quattro drive: this coming weekend (February 16) the Audi factory driver contests the Belgian historic rally Legend Boucles de Spa in an Audi quattro Group 4 from the 1981 season. The victorious motorsport history of AUDI AG began more than 30 years ago with the original quattro.

DTM fans welcome

Good news for DTM fans: spectators are also admitted to the final official tests before the season starts. Interested fans can follow on and off track events on Tuesday, 9 April on the first of four test days. A grandstand at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg will be opened for spectators on this day.

A word from … Edoardo Mortara

Youve just returned from a brief visit to Moscow to promote Audi and the DTM race there on August 4. What was your impression?

This was my first visit to Russia. It was really exciting to be standing on Red Square with the Audi A5 DTM. I was particularly surprised about the high interest of the media. Around 50 journalists were there and Mattias Ekström and I had to give a lot of interviews.

And how did the Russian fans respond to the Audi visit?

They were clearly thrilled. I havent signed such a large number of autographs as I did at this event in a long time.

Did you get the impression that the people in Moscow were familiar with the DTM at all?

Yes, absolutely. I think the people there have a great interest in motorsport. Their questions showed me that they definitely know the DTM and are paying attention to it. Of course, weve still got to explain the series in terms of its various specifications in more detail to the motorsport journalists and the fans. Mattias and I tried to communicate what our sport is all about as best we could.

What are your expectations of the DTMs Russian debut this summer?

The track will be new for all of us, so theres not much you can say about it at this point in time. But after my experiences during this brief visit Im sure that the race will be a resounding success. The people are obviously very enthusiastic about motorsport. Im already looking forward to running there. Well be doing everything we can to deliver a good show to them and to make the race a success for Audi. Generally speaking, I was very impressed with the hospitality and interest of the Russian people. Im definitely expecting to see full grandstands at the race and am already excited about my next visit to this fascinating metropolis.